Pieces of You
by 3iris
Summary: Booth, Brennan and Booth's friend. I love adding third parties to the Booth and Bones dynamic and see where my imagination takes them. Would Booth set Bones up on a blind date with his best buddy? Of course not, but in this story he does.
1. Chapter 1

Bones walked into my office and let the door bang closed behind her, drawing curious glances from nearly everyone on my end of the hallway. Not that we didn't always draw curious glances when she visited my office, but the slamming door had them clearly amused.

"I got your message. Was that code for something, because you are not seriously trying to set me up on a blind date." She was standing near the closed door, with her hands on her hips. To anyone else she would just look pissed off at the intrusion into her personal life, but I could tell she was thrown. She did not know what to make of the departure from our regular routine of her volunteering too much information regarding her after hours activities, and me cringing at any and all mention of it.

She didn't phrase it as a question, but I pretended not to notice. "I am. Griffin is a great guy. We have been friends since we were kids. He and his daughter have moved around a lot since he lost his wife a few years ago, but he decided to settle here in DC after he was offered a job downstairs in the forensics lab."

"Give me one good reason why you think this is a good idea." I was relieved when she sat down in one of the chairs facing my desk.

"Come on, Bones. I'll give you two reasons just off the top of my head. One. You need to get out more. Two. Griffin needs to get out more." I thought to myself that this is going better than I expected. She was looking at me like she might actually be considering it.

"What about you? When was the last time you 'got out'? We should make it a threesome."

Maybe this wasn't going so well after all. She always pulls out the sexual innuendo when she's trying to win an argument. "Sorry, Bones. I don't think that's his thing. What do you say?" The thing is, I couldn't quite tell if we were arguing about this yet. She didn't look angry. She looked resigned, or bored, like she might actually agree just to make me stop talking about it. Or maybe she just wasn't taking my request all that seriously.

"I don't need you recommending me to your friends like I am some recipe that you tried and just had to share."

Maybe it wasn't going so well after all. It's always a bad sign when she starts speaking to me metaphorically. I was trying to ignore her patient, condescending attitude. I was doing her a favor, doing us both a favor. She just didn't realize it.

"It's just dinner, with somebody I know is trustworthy, respectful and responsible."

"Somebody like you? That is a very vain assumption on your part that I would want to become involved with somebody with qualities similar to your own."

She looked me right in the eyes when she dropped that one on me, and didn't bother to look away. "Somebody safe that you can spend an evening with and not have to worry about misguided intentions, or consequences, or breaking rules...." I never let my eyes slip away from hers, but I had to remind myself to start breathing again while I waited to see how she would respond.

"That's very considerate of you." Her tone was laced with sarcasm. It was several seconds before she stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked down at me and raised her eyebrows, keeping her features an unreadable mask. "Fine."

"Fine?" This was an unexpected turn of events. Her face definitely didn't say fine. Her body language didn't say fine. I was beginning to have doubts about whether I really thought it was fine.

"Fine. Set it up. Give him my number."

Now was not the best time to realize that I had changed my mind. I spent fifteen minutes convincing her it was a good idea, and it took me less than a second to realize it was a mistake. "Are you sure?"

"That's what you want, right? I will defer to you on this one. You have noted frequently how poor my judgement is regarding the men I choose to be with. Maybe I will have better luck this way. Sully was your friend, and objectively, I would say we were very good together."

She put her hands on the edge of my desk, and leaned toward me while I was still considering the implications of what I had set in motion. What was I thinking? I know my reasons were good, solid ones, but all I could think about was how she was looking at me like I was betraying her in some way, and I was sure that I would be analyzing that for many hours after she walked out of my office.

She must have realized that I was not planning on responding, so she went on. "Just one more thing. What if it turns out to be more than just dinner, or more than just one evening? Are you OK with that?"

I am definitely not OK with that. An old conversation about take backs and changies came to mind, and I just stared after her. I was not prepared to face that eventuality, even though it was, technically, my original intent, to get her involved in a relationship where she could be happy and safe. This would force me to forget about any muddled ideas I may have had about our relationship being more than just friendship. I will be the first to admit I was being hasty in putting this plan into action.

I was already contemplating how much of her I would be truly willing to share, if I was being completely honest with myself. How many pieces of her would I want to keep all to myself, and which of those pieces was I giving Griffin a chance to take away from me.

..........

**A/N: I know you are all saying, WTH? He wouldn't do that. Ha! He just did. Evil, I know, but I will make it better. I promise. Or maybe I won't. You won't know if you don't review and let me know how much you disapprove. **


	2. Chapter 2

"Brennan." I turned my back to Angela, hoping for a little bit of privacy. The display may have read 'unknown', but I knew who it would be.

"Hi. Temperance? It's Griffin, Seeley's friend."

I let him go on, determined not to give Angela any clues to the mystery call, but I could feel her curiosity breathing down my neck.

"He said he spoke to you earlier today, and that I should give you a call."

"Yes. We spoke."

"Are you free this evening?"

I took a deep breath. No turning back now. "Yes. Seven?" I started walking toward my office, and noticed Angela was following me. I turned and gave her my best 'cut it out' look. She was unphased, and followed me into my office, situating herself on my couch.

"Seven it is." There was a long pause. "Are you sure this is OK?"

"Yes. I am sure." I snapped. "Why does everybody keep asking me that?"

"You just seem a little...tense, or maybe it's me that is a little apprehensive about this evening. Seeley assured me that I am not stepping in the middle of anything, but..."

"If you are insinuating that you would be interfering in any kind of relationship Booth and I might have, you shouldn't worry. Our relationship is not currently, nor has it ever been, about sex. We are friends, work partners. He would not have initiated this meeting if it were any different."

"OK. I guess I will see you tonight at your apartment at seven... for our _meeting_."

I couldn't help smiling. I had to admit to myself that he did have a bit of Booth's charm. I ended the call, almost forgetting that Angela was in my office, committing every detail of my conversation to memory for endless analysis. I looked at my watch, I had another two hours before I needed to leave work.

"Bren?"

The way Angela drew out my name with a big question mark at the end reminded me that two hours could possibly be up before she would let me out of my office. "What Angela."

"Who was that?" She was using her cheerful, attract-more-bees-with-honey, voice.

"That was Griffin. Griffin is Booth's friend. He just moved to DC. Booth asked me to go on a date with him. We are going out tonight." All the details, put forth in a straightforward manner. Maybe if I didn't leave anything for her to question me on, I could get out of here and still get some work done.

"_We_, as in you and Booth, or _we_, as in you and Griffin? Because if it's Griffin, I think we need to have one of our little talks."

"Why would Booth ask me out on a date, Angela?" She rolled her eyes at me, and I could almost picture her counting to ten silently.

"You're right, Sweetie, because that would be weirder than Booth asking you to date his best friend. I take it that means you are going out with Griffin then? Booth's friend, Griffin, just to clarify." She narrowed her eyes and watched me. She obviously didn't think I was getting the meaning that she was lacing through each statement.

"Yes, Angela. I thought that would be extremely clear from the conversation you were eavesdropping on."

"Are you crazy? Is he crazy? That must be it. All that pent up sexual frustration has addled your brains." She was becoming agitated. Sitting, then standing up, gesturing wildly with her arms, then sitting back down again. "You can not, I repeat, can not, have any kind of relationship with Booth's best friend."

"You do not dictate who I can or can not have a relationship with. You can try. You can drop hidden messages to every conversation, and infuse every situation with innuendo. But I get the final decision. Griffin and I are having dinner. That is an evening, a period in time. Dinner is not a relationship. "

"Dinners start relationships. Don't think that I didn't notice him charming you during that 10 second conversation."

"Are you even listening to me? This is my business. Booth doesn't seem to mind that I am going out with his charming best friend. Why should you?" I have to admit, that came out a little more pathetic and whiny than I intended.

Angela must have noticed the change in my tone, because she put her arms around me and her voice softened. "Sweetie, either Booth doesn't know what he wants, or he knows exactly what he wants and it scares him. I thought he was ahead of you on this, but apparently he is the one who has some catching up to do."

I sighed, which was a mistake, because I might as well have raised a white flag. "Ange, maybe there just isn't anything to catch up to."

"Of course there is. You know there is." She sat back and leaned into me, her hands on my shoulders. "You know what? Go out with Griffin. Have a great time. Stay out late. Avoid Booth's calls for two, no, make it three days. Make him sweat it out. You'll just have to trust me on this one. It will kill him. Make him pay for whatever lame diversion he has concocted."

..........

I was still sitting at my desk thinking about the threats she tossed at me as she left my office. That's what I considered the scenario she was proposing now, a threat. My two friends involved in their own separate blissful arrangement of shared meals, physical intimacies, and waking up in each others arms. My threat alert was on Code Red. My phone rang. I just stared at it, watching Griffin's name scroll across the display. It stopped ringing, and I picked it up and started to turn it off when it vibrated in my hand, alerting me that I had '1 New Message'. I wasn't really in the mood to hear the confirming details, but for some sadistic reason, I listened to the message anyway.

"Seeley, I was calling to let you know that I just set things up with Temperance. We are going out tonight. So, I guess I just wanted to say thank you, or to give you one last chance to put the brakes on it. If you want me to back out, buddy, you gotta call me before it's too late. I'm picking her up at seven. Talk to you later..."

He makes it sound so simple, like I can just pick up the phone and tell him I changed my mind. Actually, it would be very simple, except for the inevitable question that would come next. _Why? _I stared at the phone in my hand, knowing I had been given one last chance to avoid a situation that, in my mind, was becoming more complicated every minute I thought about it.

"Hey, listen, Griffin. If you don't mind, I think I actually would like you to cancel your plans with my partner tonight. You see, I find the simple act of you chatting with her on the phone sickening. So you can only imagine what the thought of her showing up at a restaurant on your arm does to me, let alone the probability of any touching or other physical contact that might arise. It literally makes my stomach ache just thinking about it. So, yeah, I changed my mind, buddy. But it has nothing to do with you. I just realized that I have it really bad for my best friend... In case that wasn't clear, I meant Bones, not you."

That was clearly not going to happen. I tossed the phone, hurled it really, at the wall, shattering it into tiny black pieces of shattered plastic and glass. I left everything on my desk as it was, and made the drive home on auto pilot, thinking about the long night ahead of me.

...........

**A/N: Yikes! Angsty, right?** **Review and you will see that it gets better next chapter...fluffier...or maybe that's two chapters from now. Let me go check while you are reviewing.**


	3. Chapter 3

We were sitting in Griffin's car in front of my apartment. It was very late, and I found myself extremely pleased with how the evening had turned out. I enjoyed getting to know him, and learning more about Booth in the process. Griffin was handsome and attentive. He was funny and easy to talk to. I expected our conversations to revolve around work, since our careers are based on the same science, but I found that we could have a stimulating discussion on many topics. "So was any of this your idea, or was it all Booth's?"

"I wish I could say it was all my idea and Seeley had no involvement, but it wasn't, and he was very involved. It just figures that he found you first."

I must have looked surprised, because he just smiled at me knowingly, and suddenly I realized that I would not be playing the game with him. It was too tiring. The game of denying truths that are evident to everybody, feigning indifference to all mention of Booth's romantic escapades, creating a false pretense of having any interests in relationships out of the realm of Booth. Griffin was just looking at me, or looking through me, it seemed. "I guess he did...find me first. I am not sure I completely understand his reasoning behind wanting you and I to be together, though."

"That's an easy one. It's getting harder for him to keep his feelings for you in check. If you are with me, he would be forced to keep his resolve strong. I think he knows I can see through him, and that I wouldn't jeopardize our friendship by coming between the two of you." He winked, and grinned at me suggestively. "Not that it's not completely tempting. I think, mostly, he just wants to include me in on the torture of denying myself your company."

"What makes you think I would put you in the position to deny anything, or that Booth would expect you to deny yourself anything? And by anything, I mean..."

"I know what you mean. I don't need you to paint me a picture. He said you were literal. What I meant was, it is easier for him if you are happy with somebody else, that way he has justification for denying what he is really feeling. I imagine he has pretty particular ideas on who would be qualified for the job, besides himself, so I guess I should consider it an honor that he feels I am worthy of the task."

"The task being keeping me happy, or satisfying me sexually?"

His eyes went wide, and he chuckled, shaking his head. "Both, and I can see why he is afraid of you. What I don't understand is why you haven't put yourself out there. You seem to be a very, very direct person." I looked away from him, wondering why I was sitting in a stranger's car in the middle of the night, sharing small pieces of information that I had always kept closely guarded. He turned in his seat to face me. "Do you want to go inside and talk?"

"Why?" I was intrigued. I couldn't help but look at him again, trying to figure out what the driving force was behind his need to understand, if not perpetuate, the dysfunctional relationship he had been tossed in the middle of.

"Because I love Seeley like a brother, and I like you, and he loves you, and I find it all very fascinating."

I had to laugh, but I was frantically struggling to think of anything that would turn the focus of our conversation back around to him. "I think Booth was thinking of you, when he asked me to consider getting to know you. He told me about your lack of relationships since your wife's death and how your little girl wants you to find someone and be happy."

"I lost Sara four years ago. He may have tried to make me sound like a charity case, but I've been doing fine. We have been doing fine."

"I am sorry. Maybe I am the one who should feel honored that he chose me to get you back out there." He was flashing me that knowing smile again, and he was right. I had to look away. I am a terrible liar. Honored? Is that what you are supposed to feel when someone you have come to realize you love offers you the consolation prize of door number two?

"I may not have been around much until lately, but it doesn't take a genius to see that you are an integral piece of his life. I am not like Jared. I don't need him to give up a piece of himself to keep me afloat."

"I am not his to give away." I expected to say this with much more conviction, but the truth is, he was casting serious doubts on the way I was looking at everything, and I was just getting tired of analyzing all of it.

"No? You didn't feel just a little bit rejected when he passed you on to me?"

His ability to read people was apparently another attribute that he shared with Booth, but he definitely did not share the filter that Booth had between his brain and his mouth. Griffin did not mince words. He said exactly what was on his mind. "You think I am direct? If you have us all figured out, why did you ask me to go out with you tonight?"

"Are you kidding me? I have been hearing about you for years. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to stir things up a little bit. I guarantee you Seeley has been absolutely squirming all night. This is what he needs, a good kick in the balls to get him thinking."

"The two of you are definitely not logical."

"Sometimes it's not about logic."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey. Man, you look like hell." He squeezed between me and the door, and was heading into my kitchen before I could protest. "So you're not answering your phone anymore? I've been trying to call you for two days."

"It broke."

He stood in front of my open refrigerator watching me with a somewhat amused expression as he opened the beer he took out of my refrigerator. "You've also given up shaving, and apparently, taking out the garbage." Griffin shoved aside the empty take out containers and beer bottles from the counter top, and sat down his beer. I scratched the 48 hour growth on my face, and waited patiently for the bomb to drop. "Are you OK? You really do look like hell."

"I am fine. It's the weekend. I'll shave tomorrow." I didn't really want to know if they hit it off. A little voice in my head was telling me that of course they did. They are my best friends. I must recognize similar qualities in both of them, so they would have a lot in common. He was obviously making it a competition of who could wait the longest to bring it up. He kept glancing at me as he nonchalantly picked at the label on his beer bottle. I did not have a chance in hell of winning this contest. "So. How was it?"

He looked at me smugly, and shook his head. "You are going to have to find that out for yourself, my friend. Is that what this was, a fact finding mission? Are you contracting out third parties to determine how _it_ is with your _partner?_"

I quickly got up and grabbed a beer from my fridge. This is not something I was planning on discussing tonight. I tried to keep my voice even, hoping Griffin would not notice the rising panic. "Not _it_...you know what I mean...your evening, how was it?"

"Temperance didn't give you the play by play? She is usually very open about that type of thing."

"We haven't had a case. She hasn't returned my messages." I felt my throat constrict, as I sadistically tried to garner more details. "What 'type of thing' is she very open about? You have known her for less than 48 hours. How can you know what she 'usually' does?" This sounded bitter and possessive, even to myself.

"If you must know, _it_ was better than I thought it would be, but not as good as _it _would have been if we weren't two people doing a favor for their best friend, who is in a seriously delusional state." Relief washed over me, or maybe it was hope, because I didn't quite feel relieved yet. I needed to know exactly what happened, and at what point he realized I was delusional. I briefly wondered why I was so comfortable with him labeling me as delusional.

"So, it didn't work out?" I sounded hopeful, too hopeful. I should probably just beg him to lie to me and tell me that he wasn't that into her, which only reinforces that he was right. I have lost my mind.

"We had a great time. We ate, drank, laughed, danced, and got booed off the stage singing a sparkling rendition of _I'm Yours_ at the karaoke bar, then spent half the night talking. If she were any other woman, I would have taken her home, and with any luck, would still be at home in bed with her, instead of standing here wondering what it would be like, just like you." He smiled that smug smile at me again. The one that said, 'I know exactly what you are thinking, so don't even bother trying to deny it.'

I couldn't believe I was standing here discussing this. My feelings for my partner were obviously more transparent than I thought, but I still couldn't relinquish the facade I had created. That would open up a whole world of issues that would have to be dealt with, so for now, deluded it is. "Don't blame that one on me. I got her to go out with you. The rest was up to you." He was not going to get any guilt points from me for ruining that opportunity.

"I don't have any idea why Temperance agreed to your idiotic request, but I can only assume it has something to do with you making her believe that she would be _revealing _something about her true feelings for you if she were to refuse. Bringing up the dead wife and the confused little girl was also a nice touch, by the way. Going for the sympathy factor."

"So now you are pissed at me? I was doing you a favor." So what if I mentioned that he just moved here from out of state, and that his wife was killed in an automobile accident a few years ago. I may have also mentioned that he hasn't had any interest in a new relationship, and that his adorable six year old daughter, Chloe, doesn't understand why he won't go out and have fun. It is all the truth, and I knew Bones wouldn't be able to resist helping a friend, especially when there was no pressure of commitment.

"You are playing with people's emotions, Seeley... hers, mine, and yours. Are you prepared to stand by and watch while somebody takes her away from you? Because, all stubborn bullshit aside, she is yours right now, but if you keep up the games and the denial, she won't be for long. She is an amazing woman, and I had to remind myself more than once Friday night that you were temporarily insane when you concocted this plan of yours. It would have been very easy to convince myself that you meant it when you said you weren't interested."

"What did you tell her?" I felt the pounding in my head that started on Friday evening start up again with a vengeance.

"Are you even trying to comprehend what I am telling you? I didn't have to tell her anything. We both knew that it was not us that belonged together. We talked for a long time. I have a feeling she revealed more to me last night than she had ever admitted to anyone, maybe even herself. If you have any plans of sharing any of your revelations with her, this would probably be a very good time to do it."

Tonight? I couldn't believe he was actually suggesting that I go to her house tonight and try to make sense of any of this. My thoughts were scattered into a million pieces and they were all circling in different directions. I admitted to myself that I had feelings for her. That was easy and very explainable. We work together very closely. We have to have a certain level of trust to do our jobs, and to keep ourselves alive. The rest of it is what I was having issues with. The big swirling mess of love and jealousy and commitment and intimacy and fear and excitement and...

"Actually, I do have one more thing to say. If you would have stayed in the Army, or in Philly, this never would have happened. Army Rangers or Philadelphia street cops do not have pretty, blue-eyed, genius best friends that wear tight fitting lab coats and high heeled boots. They have tough guy friends with bulging biceps, tattoos and crew cuts. They would kick your ass for moping around like this and feeling sorry for yourself over a woman. You had to go the federal paper jock route and have a pretty curvy partner and expensive takeout lunches from gourmet bistros."

I was mostly amused, and maybe just a little bit offended by his slightly over the top character assassination. I made a mental note to ride him a little about his new work address when I was finished obsessing over my current situation. Of course, he wasn't finished with his advise on how to put my life back on the right track.

"Seriously, there is only one problem with your best friend being the sexy, smart, beautiful woman that you are in love with. She is not going to tell you to just go for it, and damn the consequences. That is why you are lucky that I am back in town, and not a moment too soon." He nodded at me knowingly, like he had just bestowed upon me the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. "Think of yourself first for a change. Take what you want. If you keep giving away pieces of yourself, to your job or your family or your friends, you're not going to have anything left to give her."

..........

**A/N: Whoo, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I feel better. Anybody else think somebody needs to have this talk with Booth for real... I mean for real on the TV show. See, I am still in touch with reality. ;)**

**Speaking of obsessing, you can not even imagine how long it took me to pick a karaoke song title. I ended up using the song that was playing on the radio when I had this ready to post. details, details...**


	5. Chapter 5

I heard the chirp of her alarm as she unlocked her car. She started to slide in, and then jumped back instinctively when she saw me sitting in her passenger seat.

"What the hell? You broke into my car?" She paused a moment before she climbed back into the driver's seat and closed the door. She was clearly irritated.

"I didn't _break_ anything." I was aware that she was probably more concerned about my mental health than the car, but I couldn't help but defend my skills. "I let myself in because you haven't returned my messages."

"You haven't mentioned that there was a case." So she was going to play it cool. "How long have you been out here anyway?"

"Not long." She obviously had no intention of driving me anywhere, but she hadn't kicked me out yet, so that was something.

"You have an access card. You could have come inside instead of stalking me in the parking garage."

"I don't like the word stalking. OK, Bones? I was waiting for you to finish working, so I could talk to you alone..."

"...which is the definition of stalking."

She was not going to make this easy, not that I blamed her. I finally sucked it up, and got to the point of my visit. It was not easy for me to admit that I was wrong... and stupid. "I am sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I asked, but I never thought you would agree to it."

"That is extremely illogical, but there is no need to apologize. It's not like we had a terrible time, Griffin and I."

This was not going like I had planned. "Yeah, I talked to Griffin this morning. You made quite the impression on him." She was staring out the windshield, but she had not made any attempt at driving us anywhere.

"What is that supposed to mean? What did he say?"

"Can we just drive? I can think better if we are moving."

"Fine. I'll drive you to your car." There was that word again. _Fine_. I still wasn't falling for it.

"It's at home."

She turned to me like she was going to question me, then she just shrugged. "Fine, then I will drive you home."

The short ride to my apartment was spent listening to a chilly silence. I made an attempt at conversation, which was met by one word answers, so I settled for watching her as she calmly maneuvered through the light traffic, and pulled into an empty parking spot. She looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to make my exit, I assumed. I turned to her and pretended to be calm as I told her that we really needed to talk.

"Why did you have to disturb things. We were doing fine. It was a non-issue." She sighed, and sounded so tired.

I nearly let it pass. I almost gave up and walked inside and started wondering how I would push everything down beneath the surface again, but I couldn't do it, not after the last two days. "What was a non-issue?"

"A non-issue, by definition, is something that is irrelevant, not worth talking about."

If she would just look at me, she would see how serious I was about this. My resolve had strengthened over the past few days and I was not going to let it go this time. I touched her arm and waited for her to look at me. "I know what non-issue means. I was speaking specifically of _our_ non-issue. I need to understand what this thing is between us. I know I was the one who started us down this path, but I can't do it anymore. I won't do it anymore."

"Is that some sort of ultimatum?"

I had to laugh at the thought of that, but she failed to see the humor in it. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. If she could only see the absurdity of that question from my point of view. I was definitely in no position to issue ultimatums. If I were, I would not envision them being particularly effective with her anyway. "No, it's not. It is just getting very hard for me to remember that I am not bothered by the men that come and go in your life. It is getting harder and harder to remember that I don't care and that it doesn't matter. I can't pretend anymore. The risk is too high."

"Oh."

Her eyes were wide and she just stared at me gape-mouthed. I looked away. She obviously needed time to compose herself and adjust to this new reality. Surprisingly, when I turned to look at her, she was smiling at me, and I felt the tension evaporate from the car. Well, most of it anyway. I was not totally convinced that she realized the enormity of what I was trying to tell her. I threw a reckless grin in her direction, and took another step toward the point of no return. "Do you know what that means?"

"I am assuming that the gambling metaphor refers to losing me in some kind of wager." I must have looked horrified, because she just laughed and laid her hand on my arm.

"You're kidding, right? Because, you know, Bones, sometimes it's really hard to tell with you." I looked at her nervously, wondering if she knew what she was doing to me.

"Booth, would you please just stop?" Her eyes were wide and serious now, and she had mercifully stopped joking with me. There was a time and place for Temperance Brennan's brand of humor, and this was definitely not it. I had a hard enough time making sense of what she was saying when she was being serious.

"Stop?" My hopes fell, and I knew my face did also. The problem was, I couldn't stop. I honestly tried. Maybe she didn't get that the whole Griffin thing was my emergency brake that I had needed to stop this thing between us from careening out of control at an impossible speed. That had failed miserable, along with my desire to put a stop to anything. "Stop what?" I was confused, because she was still smiling at me.

"Stop looking at me like I am going to handcuff you to the dash and take off running. I'm not planning on going anywhere, unless you want to get out of this car and go upstairs, where we can talk about things properly."

..........

**A/N: Who else thinks it is a good idea for them to go upstairs and _talk_? How does everyone feel about them being _proper_ about it? Could I see a show of hands? Or maybe since that's not really possible, how about just clicking on the green button and letting me know how you feel? That would probably work better. New chapter tomorrow!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I just wanted to apologize for not replying to everyone's lovely reviews lately. Please do not think they have gone unappreciated. I wait for them to arrive in my Inbox patiently, and they always make me smile. In my defense, I have updated DAILY, so that should be a good excuse. Right?**

..........

The walk up to my apartment was a long one, long and silent, and ... very, very long. All of the sudden, I felt like new rules of conduct were expected, but nobody thought to give me a copy of the playbook. I had no idea how to approach her. I wondered what her silence meant. I noticed she was not walking as close to me as she normally did. It may have just been a matter of inches, but the difference was palpable. It made me uneasy. Was she telling me that she didn't want me to touch her?

She glanced at me once as the elevator doors opened, and we stepped out onto my floor. As we made our way down the hall, I realized I didn't know what to do with my free hand that was normally resting on the small of her back. Those few inches of extra space between us told me it would not be a welcomed gesture at this point. I'm not sure I ever thought about the act of guiding her with my hand at her back, keeping her, literally, at arms length, but I was definitely having thoughts about why I wasn't doing it now.

Her voice snapped my attention back to the task at hand, which was making it to my apartment without having a stroke. "This is kind of awkward, right?" She said it quietly, but she looked at me intently with her clear aqua eyes. It helped a little to know that she was as unsure of how to approach this as I was.

"Yeah, right. A little bit, I guess."

She stopped walking, and turned to face me. "I want to say something, OK?" She looked down a moment, before meeting my eyes again. "I mean, you had a chance to express your feelings, now it's my turn."

I nodded, waiting for her to make the same leap of faith that I was alluding to with my revelation. She did. And then some. She stood on her tip toes and leaned toward me, keeping her balance by placing her hand against my chest. Then she kissed me. It was just the briefest touch of her lips against mine, but that was all it took. The spark that started at the points of contact with her palm and lips, spread like electricity through my body, leaving me tingling with a new awareness of her.

I watched her as the same reaction spread over her. She blinked a couple times, and then took a step back, swaying a bit. I placed my hands on her waist to steady her, and I heard the small intake of her breath. It was the faintest little gasp, but it told me what I desperately needed to know. She was as affected by this as I was. The intensity of our reaction to that small stimulus mystified me, and made me wonder what would happen when we got together in a proper fashion.

She cleared her throat, and took another step back. "I thought I would do that out here, because I know you are going to want to talk a lot when we go in there." She smiled at me teasingly, but I could see the emotion that passed over her face, and settled in her eyes, which were shining with unshed tears.

"Sure, Bones, you know me, talk, talk, talk until you are bored to tears." I threw my arm around her shoulders, and gave her a squeeze, crushing her against me playfully, as I fumbled for my keys and unlocked my door.

.

She did not waste any time confronting the issue as soon as we walked in the door, which was for the best, because all I could think about was the intense desire to feel the charge to my senses I felt out in the hallway. Again, her words brought me out of my reverie. "I must have been doing something wrong all of these years, because that was..."

I couldn't keep the grin from spreading across my face, or from interrupting her with my input. "... I know, amazingly unexpected."

"I'm not just talking about the kiss, although the sensations it produced were quite pleasurable."

"Pleasurable? It was like making contact with a lightening bolt, Bones."

"Wow. Really? I've never been compared to a force of nature before." She raised her eyebrows, looking pretty proud of her accomplishment, and I had to laugh at her.

"I wasn't paying you a compliment, Bones. I was making a testimony to our compatibility. But, yeah, the kiss was good, too."

"Thanks." Her smile dimmed somewhat, and I could tell she was choosing her next words carefully. "You really think we are compatible, not just convenient, or, I don't know, safe?"

I made her sit down next to me. She had so much nervous energy pent up, she was starting to make me apprehensive about where this was going. "Just relax." I found her hand and held it in mine, pressing our palms together, and linking our fingers. "I have always known we were compatible. I just wasn't always sure for what purpose. It seems that we are yet to find an area where we don't just _work_ together. Our skills on the job mesh perfectly. Even Sweets agrees that we complement each other in that area. As friends, we tend to have a sixth sense to know when we are needed, and to what extent. Tonight, out there, that was chemistry, the way we reacted to that simple contact. That is not about convenience, or making due, or taking the most obvious path." She was looking at me with wide eyes, and I was hoping that I was putting some of her fears to rest. "As for being safe, you say that like it is a bad thing. In fact, finding somebody who I feel safe to trust my heart with, that's kind of the best part."

"I would like to be that person." She turned in her seat to face me, and I could see that she was speaking from her heart instead of her head for a change. "I would be honored for you to trust me with that." I saw her struggling with something, and I waited patiently for her to find the right words. I concentrated on her hand inside of mine, and the feel of her soft skin under my calloused fingers. I saw a tear drop fall onto the back of her hand, and I looked up into her expressive eyes, which were filled with tears, as I wiped it away. "I haven't been fair to you. I have been entrusting you with little pieces of myself for so long, I don't even realize that I do it anymore. I just know that those pieces are safe with you. You have already been _that_ person to me for a long time. It's just taken a while for me to know it."

I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, and leaned forward, resting my forehead against hers. I hoped that she didn't notice that I was having a hard time focusing because of the tears pooling in my own eyes. "That's all I have wanted to hear for the longest time. I know we have a lot to talk about, but I hope you don't mind if we stop talking for a while." I tangled my hands in her hair, and pulled her closer to claim her lips with mine, bracing myself for another soul shaking experience. "We have to repeat that experiment out in the hallway . . . make sure we were right about our claim to chemistry."

She eagerly nodded her head in the affirmative, as she slid her hands up my arms, and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Of course . . . for the sake of scientific validity."

..........

**Have I mentioned that I have updated every day now for, let me think, ***counts on fingers***, SIX days now? Pretty impressive, huh? I think that deserves a reward in the form of written encouragement, or criticism, or rantings about the mutual appreciation of Booth's physique. **

**I'll share first... my favorites are his shoulders (very broad), and forearms (you know, like when he has his shirt sleeves rolled up, and is ready to get down to business. Isn't that just the weirdest?). **

**Just so you know, it is my intention to reply to every single review for this chapter, if that is of any interest to you at all ... which it probably isn't.**

**Thanks for sticking with this story, even thought it was an admittedly odd concept.**

**Six chapters....Six days....**

**OK, the story is over, and you are still reading my ramblings. Shouldn't you be reviewing or something? **

**:D**


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